Digital Commons Network^™

Freedom Is Taught Here: Freedom Schools And The Radical Tradition Of Intergenerational Community Learning In Black Education, Trayc D. Freeman, Wintre F. Johnson, Tiffany D. Meadows, Christine Onyinyechi-Uju Emuka, Naila A. Smith

Occasional Paper Series

The Black American community has always understood the power of literacy and education, and the importance of Black self-sufficiency to attain these. The establishment of Freedom Schools during the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi is an actualization of that understanding. Since 1995, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has carried on the work and legacy, with Freedom Schools still taking place all over the United States. For two summers, we, researchers from the University of Virginia, have had the opportunity to partner with a CDF Freedom School as part of a mixed-method research study. This essay serves as a reflection and …

College Students’ And Teachers’ Biases Regarding School Children Based On Appearance, Sex, And Clothing, Lauren K. Decoste, Terry F. Pettijohn Ii

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This research explored how appearance, sex, and clothing differences influence adults’ perceptions of primary school students across two studies. Male students were predicted to be rated higher in academic ability, behavior, and likeability compared to female students, while formally dressed students were expected to receive more favorable ratings than informally dressed students. Study 1 included college students (N = 160), and Study 2 included employed teachers (N = 112). Participants rated formally and informally dressed male and female students on perceived behavioral, academic, and social skills, likeability, and engagement. Results showed that model sex influenced several perceptions, with male students …

Uplifting And Shifting Graduate Professional Preparation Programs In Higher Education At Hbcus, Pietro A. Sasso, Justin Alexander, Ashley Gray, Adriel Hilton, Fred Bonner

New York Journal of Student Affairs

Scant research elucidates the contributions of both master’s-level and doctoral higher education administration professional preparation programs at HBCUs. These programs exist across only approximately 20% of these institutions. In this conceptual research piece, the researchers will explore the historical legacies and contemporary status of HBCU higher education graduate programs in higher education. Recommendations and future directions are provided to enhance capacity and amplify the contributions of these significant programs. These include strategies for program distinction, professional connectivities, and increasing scholarly contributions.

An Eco-Corpus Stylistic Analysis Of The Underland: A Deep Time Journey By Robert Macfarlane, Eman Adil Jaafar, Haida Kareem Ali

AUIQ Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper examines patterns of linguistic foregrounding in the nature writing book Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane (2019) through a corpus stylistic approach. It aims to identify and interpret distinctive language features that stand out within the text and shape its expressive qualities. Such foregrounded elements are shown to intensify both the aesthetic and persuasive dimensions of climate fiction, functioning as a narrative mechanism that draws readers into deeper engagement with environmental issues. By integrating insights from stylistics and climate discourse, the study highlights the role of this text as an effective medium for environmental communication and …

Method And System For Determining Real-Time Operational Status Of A Merchant And Optimizing Dynamic Resource Strategy Thereof, Yuexi Chen

Defensive Publications Series

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for determining real-time operational status of a merchant and optimizing dynamic resource strategy thereof. The method involves obtaining real-time payment transaction data from a merchant and analyzing this data to determine the merchant's operational status. Furthermore, the method compares the real-time payment transaction data with historical payment transaction data to establish the busy and idle status of the merchant. It also includes generating a dynamic pricing modifier based on this comparison to effectively distribute demand across operational hours. Finally, the operational status and dynamic pricing modifier are communicated to a mapping …

Withdrawing A Link Aggregation Group Member Link From Frame Distribution Upon Loss Of Macsec Protection, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

A link aggregation group (LAG) whose member links are individually protected by MACsec withdraws a member link from frame distribution when MACsec protection on that link is lost while the link remains physically up. The MACsec entity on the link reports the fault to the LAG function, which clears the Synchronization, Collecting, and Distributing state for the port and transmits a Link Aggregation Control Protocol data unit at once, so that both ends stop hashing traffic onto the link within one exchange. A reserved bit or a new element of the data unit advertises whether MACsec is operational on each …

Resolving Big Bang Boundary Parameters, Peter Stevenson

Defensive Publications Series

Formalizing the boundary conditions of initial cosmic initialization

Addiction And Bipolar Disorder Treatment, Peter Stevenson

Defensive Publications Series

Part 2 of an approach to drug addiction that doesn't require clinical isolation of the 12 step program, it ALSO provides a program for bipolar disorder treatment. Both in a socially acceptable environment

The Universal Addiction Recovery Scaffold Part 1, Peter Stevenson

Defensive Publications Series

A fresh approach to drug addiction that doesn't require clinical isolation and aids recovery without a 12 step program. Part 1 of 2

Serverless Health Questionnaire Records Carried In Optical Codes And Encrypted To An Ad Hoc Roster Of Examiners, Paul Andrew Galjan, Patrick Duggan

Defensive Publications Series

A method and system for moving a completed health questionnaire from a respondent's device to one of several examiners at a temporary clinic, without any server, account, or database holding the questionnaire. The respondent's device serializes and compresses the answers, encrypts them once under a fresh random content key, and wraps that content key separately to the public key of every examiner on the clinic's roster. The result is displayed as an optical code (for example a QR code) that is itself the record. Each examiner's device generates its own key pair locally, shares only the public key, and never …

Single-Route Bgp Advertisement Of Priority-Ordered, Algorithm-Keyed Srv6 Forwarding Paths With Forwarding-Plane Switchover, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

A single Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update for one virtual private network service route carries, in its BGP Prefix-SID attribute, a priority-ordered set of Segment Routing over IPv6 forwarding paths, each tagged with the Interior Gateway Protocol algorithm of the topology it traverses, its relative priority, its endpoint behavior, and an optional quality bound. The ingress provider edge router installs the highest-priority path as the active encapsulation and the remaining paths as backup encapsulations resolved at installation. When the active path fails, crosses a quality bound, or is overridden, the ingress router promotes a backup by updating the forwarding entry …

Offshore Kinetic Energy Engine, Peter Stevenson

Defensive Publications Series

This paper investigates kinetic energy capture at the edge of continental shelves, proving a structurally stable, non depreciating and non polluting long term power grid that satisfies all aspects of Capex and ROANFE (return on average net funds employed)

Interrupting Media Consumption Based On User Exercise Progress And Health Goals, Richa Gupta

Defensive Publications Series

Extended media playback on a shared display can cause users to miss wearable or mobile health alerts, while static reminders and isolated health dashboards may not account for active media-session context or progress toward activity goals. A health-to-media session synchronization engine can receive wearable fitness metrics through server-to-server communication or local device communication and evaluate the metrics with media playback session data, including continuous watch duration, playback state, commercial breaks, and application context. Based on exercise goal deficits or sedentary-session thresholds, the engine can present a health overlay, pause or restrict access to a media application, monitor completion of a …

The Role Of User-Generated Content Credibility In Enhancing Digital Emotional Engagement With Brand Identity: A Statistical Analysis Of Consumer Behaviour In E-Commerce, Ali Thamer Ali Al-Ibadi, Fatma Issa Hussien

AUIQ Humanities and Social Sciences

The growing role of user-generated content (UGC) in digital marketplaces has raised critical questions about how perceptions of credibility consumer emotions and behavior. This study examines how UGC credibility dimensions influence digital emotional engagement and subsequent consumer behavior in e-commerce settings. A mixed-method design integrating PLS-SEM, fsQCA, and netnography was applied to data collected from 437 active e-commerce consumers. Review neutrality (β = 0.318) and content accuracy (β = 0.284) were the strongest predictors of emotional engagement, while trust in content (β = 0.342) and sense of familiarity (β = 0.276) most effectively converted engagement into …

Protective Assembly For Meter Enclosure, Daniel Van Epps

Defensive Publications Series

A protective assembly for a utility meter is disclosed. The protective assembly may be implemented in multiple embodiments. In a first embodiment, the protective assembly includes a multilayer film disposed on at least a portion of an existing meter cover. In a second embodiment, the protective assembly includes an additional cover positioned over the existing meter cover and a plurality of attachment bars configured to couple the additional cover to the existing meter cover. In a third embodiment, the protective assembly includes another additional cover coupled to the existing meter cover using adhesive pads, nuts, and screws. The disclosed embodiments …

Geometry-Conditioned Synthesis Of First-Person Visual Navigation Previews, D Shin

Defensive Publications Series

Systems and methods are described that can generate a predictive, first-person visual preview of a navigation route. A technique can involve conditioning a generative video synthesis framework with structured data, such as geometric and semantic information. This data, which may include three-dimensional pose graphs, depth information, and building footprints, can be used to constrain the synthesis to a physically plausible path. This approach can produce a topologically consistent preview that may be synchronized to a user's pace on a computing device (e.g., a smartphone, smart watch, or augmented reality glasses). The system can also render current conditions, like weather, and …

Amortizing Vocabulary Projection Cost With Deferred Batched Verification, Karan Yadav

Defensive Publications Series

Autoregressive decoding in machine learning models with large vocabularies can be limited by memory bandwidth, as the output projection matrix may be read from memory for each generated token. A described method can address this by introducing a multi-step decoding process that first speculatively generates a sequence of draft tokens by scoring only a small, dynamic subset of the full vocabulary, while the full model body is still executed at every step.

Subsequently, a deferred, batched verification phase may validate the drafted tokens by computing full-vocabulary distributions for the entire sequence in a single operation. This approach can amortize the …

Constraint-Preserving Rail Aggregation For Routing And Spectrum Assignment In Multi-Fiber Optical Networks, Anonymous

Defensive Publications Series

A path computation method is described for optical networks in which adjacent nodes are joined by two or more parallel fiber pairs, called rails. Parallel rails are collapsed into an aggregate edge only where a node connectivity matrix certifies that the grouped rails are interchangeable for the ingress to egress transition at issue. Routing runs on the collapsed graph, and the aggregate is expanded into constraint-consistent subsets only along selected candidate routes and only at constrained nodes, partial connectivity being one such constraint. The resulting section path is feasible by construction, is validated for optical feasibility once per section rather …

Aerial Threat Interception Via Dynamic And Rapidly Deployable Physical Barriers, Yoel Shimo Arieli

Defensive Publications Series

A modular counter-unmanned-aircraft system is disclosed for intercepting hostile drones with a physical net barrier, without relying on signal jamming or single-shot projectiles. In a swarm embodiment, at least two heavy-lift carrier UAVs flying a synchronized leader-follower formation, using RTK-GPS, suspend and tension a high-strength low-drag net (e.g., UHMWPE/Dyneema) with bottom stabilization weights, forming a moving aerial wall that may also be supported by an aerostat or powered through tethers. Detection combines an acoustic array with a directional parabolic microphone, optical AI tracking on a gimbal-mounted camera, and dynamic masking of the carrier UAVs' own signals. Interception strategies include a …

Apodized Chirped Cladding Grating For Uniform Thermal Load Distribution In High-Power Fiber Lasers (Mitigating Transverse Mode Instability), Yoel Shimo Arieli

Defensive Publications Series

A pump-coupling architecture is disclosed for high-power cladding-pumped fiber lasers to mitigate transverse mode instability (TMI) by flattening the longitudinal heat load. A continuous, longitudinally distributed diffraction grating is formed along the full pumped length of the outer surface of the inner cladding of a double-clad fiber, rather than at a single coupling point. Pump light launched at one end into the outer cladding is progressively coupled into the inner cladding. The local coupling coefficient A(z) is derived analytically by solving an inverse thermal-design problem: a target heat-generation profile is prescribed, here a spatially uniform one, and the required coupling …

Controlled-Release Polyvinyl Alcohol (Pva) Capsules For Pigment Paste Delivery Into Paints And Coating Agents, Yoel Shimo Arieli

Defensive Publications Series

Controlled-release capsule systems are disclosed for delivering pigment paste into coating agents such as paints and plasters, improving on prior-art capsules having a fixed-thickness, passively dissolving polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) wall. Dissolution is engineered through crosslinked, co-polymer-blended or grafted PVA films and can be made responsive to pH, temperature or mechanical shear, including two-phase delay-then-burst release. Capsule architectures include variable wall thickness within one capsule, surface-area-maximising geometries, multi-layer walls, engineered rupture points, capsule-in-capsule and two-component formats, microporous membrane walls and automation-compatible cylindrical formats. The dissolved wall can act as an active material in the coating, providing pigment dispersion, rheology modification, self-healing, …

Calculation Of Alpha-Decay Half-Lives Using A Numerical Approach, Daniel Suescún-Díaz, Rosemberg Gómez-Noguera, Diego Rasero-Causil

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

This study introduces a numerical approach for estimating alpha-decay half-lives of alpha-emitting nuclei using a modified five-parameter Woods-Saxon potential. The radial Schrödinger equation is solved with the Numerov method to calculate the wave function and the barrier transmission probability, without relying exclusively on the WKB approximation. The calculations were performed for 398 nuclides taken from the NUBASE2020 database. Of these, 264 nuclides were used for the MWS5 parameter-adjustment stage, whereas the remaining 134 nuclides were reserved for an independent evaluation of the model. The results were compared with those obtained from two reference models: the modified Gamow-Like Model (MGLM) and …

Antioxidant, Anti-Tyrosinase, Anti-Elastase, And Anti-Collagenase Activities Of Propolis Extracts From The Stingless Bee Tetragonula Laeviceps (Smith, 1857), Tri Hadi Handayani, Dimas Andrianto, Sih Kahono, Pamungkas Rizki Ferdian, Raden Lia Rahadian Amalia, Muhamad Ridwan

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Stingless bees incorporate propolis into their nest as a structural and protective material. Information remains limited on how solvent fractionation affects the antioxidant and enzyme-inhibitory activities of propolis produced by Indo nesian Tetragonula laeviceps. This study examined a crude extract prepared with 70% ethanol together with the n- hexane, ethyl acetate, and water fractions obtained from it. The analysis comprised total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), three antioxidant assays (ABTS, CUPRAC, TBARS), and inhibition of tyrosinase, elastase, and collagenase. The largest TPC and TFC values were obtained from the ethyl acetate fraction, at 85.93 ± 1.28 mg GAE/g …

Xenoliths In Meteorites: Insights Into The Dynamics Of Material Exchange Between Asteroids, J. Gattacceca, B. Devouard, L. Bonal, Y. Marrocchi, A. Greshake, R. Tartese, M. Gounelle, D. Auyang, C. Sonzogni, M. Hutson, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Earth, Environment, and Society Faculty Publications and Presentations

A minor fraction of meteorites contains xenoliths, that is, clasts that were formed on a different parent body than that of the host lithology. The occurrence of xenoliths is direct evidence for the exchange of material between asteroids, including exchanges between asteroids from the carbonaceous (CC) and non-carbonaceous (NC) reservoirs. Overall xenolith population statistics may therefore inform us about the dynamical mixing of these two asteroid reservoirs. Xenoliths are also intrinsically interesting because they may sample parent bodies that are not represented in the meteorite collection. In this work, we conducted a critical and exhaustive review of xenoliths described in …

Preparation Of Gleditsia Sinensis Polysaccharide Microemulsion And Their Hydrophobic Interactions With Quercetin, Xu Chenrui, Yao Qiuping, Deng Shenghui

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To investigate the formulation process of Gleditsia sinensis polysaccharide microemulsion and the hydrophobic interactions between the microemulsion and quercetin. [Methods] A pseudo -ternary phase diagram was drawn through compatibility experiments to optimize the formulation of the G.sinensis polysaccharide microemulsion. Based on the pyrene fluorescence probe technique, the effect of quercetin concentration on the I 1/I3 value in the microemulsion was examined to explore the hydrophobic and polar interactions between quercetin and the carrier in the G.sinensis polysaccharide microemulsion system. [Results] The prepared G.sinensis polysaccharide microemulsion was of the oil -in-water (O/W type ). The optimal formulation consisted of 35.4% …

Geographical Origin Tracing Of Soybeans Using Electronic Tongue And Electronic Eye Combined With Multi-Level Information Fusion Based On Informer-Swin Transformer, Li Xin, Wang Zhiqiang, Han Tianrui, Xu Suchao

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To achieve rapid traceability detection of soybeans from different geographical origins. [Methods] A novel method for rapid soybean origin traceability is proposed based on the fusion of information from electronic tongue and electronic eye. The electronic tongue and electronic eye are used to collect taste fingerprint and visual image information, respectively, from soybeans of different origins. To address the differences between the temporal sequence features of electronic tongue signals and the spatial image features of electronic eye data, Informer and Swin Transformer are respectively employed to extract key features from the two types of data. A dual -modal feature …

Rapid Detection Of Tomato Nutritional Components Based On Nirs And Pso-Lightgbm, Shi Lichun, Wang Songwei, Wang Zhizhong

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To achieve rapid, non -destructive, and high -precision detection of six nutritional components in tomatoes, including dry matter, soluble sugar, total acid, vitamin C, soluble solids, and lycopene. [Methods] A tomato nutritional component detection model based on near -infrared spectroscopy (NIRS ) combined with light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM ) optimized using the particle swarm optimization (PSO ) algorithm (PSO -LightGBM ) was proposed. Using the six nutritional components as detection indicators, near -infrared spectral data (scanning range:400~2 500 nm) were collected from 471 tomato samples. Seven preprocessing methods were compared, and the optimal combination of standard normal variate …

Effects And Mechanisms Of Electrostatic Field-Assisted Temperature Rising On Inhibiting Color Browning Of Modified Atmosphere-Packaged Lamb Ribs During 10 ℃ Storage, Huang Zhiji, Wang Rong, Chen Bingyan, Zhu Lewei, Li Xinwei, Lin Yiqin, Lin Lijuan, Liu Yun, Lin Xiaozi, Li Weixin

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To address the problem of browning and oxidation in meat products processed from frozen lamb during shelf life. [Methods] Frozen sliced lamb ribs during temperature elevation were treated with an electrostatic field and then packaged using modified atmosphere packaging with different gas compositions. The samples were stored at 10 ℃ after packaging, and meat color, total viable count, oxidation level, and antioxidant enzyme activity were measured at 0,48,72, and 96 h of storage. [Results] After treatment with a 25 kV electrostatic field for 30 min, samples packaged under high -oxygen conditions (70% O2+30% CO2, EO group ) showed significantly …

Sugar Substitute Formula Optimization And Quality Analysis Of Low-Sugar Nutrient-Fortified Condensed Milk, Wang Xuelian, Dong Yining, Dong Hui, Guo Mingfei, Xu Sheng, Zhou Di

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To address health risks associated with the high sugar and calorie content in traditional condensed milk, and to reduce sugar content and fortify nutrients of traditional condensed milk by replacing sugar with low -sweetness prebiotics as the primary component, compounded with sugar alcohols and high -intensity sweeteners. [Methods] Low -sweetness prebiotics (galacto -oligosaccharides and fructo -oligosaccharides ) are used as the main ingredients in sugar substitutes, compounded with sugar alcohols (erythritol and maltitol ) and high -intensity sweeteners (stevioside and mogrosides ). Then, the optimal substitute ratio is optimized through fuzzy mathematics sensory evaluation combined with D -optimal mixture …

Optimization Of Glycosylation Modification And Functional Properties Of Soybean Lipophilic Proteins, Zhou Xianghui, Liu Chang, Meng Gaoge, Yuan Guangyao, Zhang Qiuhui, Zhang Yongsheng

Food and Machinery

[Objective] To improve the emulsifying stability of soybean lipophilic proteins and broaden their application in the field of functional foods. [Methods] Based on the glycosylation reaction, the processing conditions for glucose -mediated glycosylation modification were optimized using grafting degree and emulsifying stability as evaluation indices. Meanwhile, the structure and functional properties of the glycosylated proteins were characterized by SDS -PAGE, particle size analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR ), foaming stability, surface hydrophobicity, and oil -holding capacity. [Results] The optimal glycosylation conditions were a protein -to-glucose mass ratio (mprotein∶mglucose ) of 1∶1, a treatment time of 2 h, a temperature …